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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29183322">Snug as a Bug</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles'>mcschnuggles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Schnugg's Regressuary 2021 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Age Regression/De-Aging, CGRE - Caregiver/Age Regressor, Caregiver!Marinette, Fluff, Gen, Regressing!Adrien, Roleswap</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:28:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29183322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien has a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, but at least he has someone he can go to for comfort.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Schnugg's Regressuary 2021 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Regressuary, Regressuary 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Snug as a Bug</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>      Adrien has to be perfect.</p>
<p>      From his schoolwork to his modeling to his piano. From his social life to his behavior to his Chinese lessons. Everything he does has to be perfect to meet his father’s expectations.</p>
<p>      That’s not even bringing up the expectations the city of Paris has for him. Master Fu chose him to be Monsieur Bug, then entrusted the Miraculous Box to him and disappeared.</p>
<p>      It wasn’t bad at first. For the longest time, being a hero meant being <em>free</em>. It meant fun. The Ladybug Miraculous was a gracious gift, one he repaid the debts of by being the best hero he could possibly be. The long nights and extra bruises were no big deal.</p>
<p>      Until the responsibilities started stacking up, one by one. Keeping the peace. Keeping his identity a secret. Fighting Hawkmoth. Choosing worthy Miraculous holders. Being the Guardian of the Miraculous with no guiding hand.</p>
<p>      Slowly but surely, obligations have eclipsed the last of his free time, until there are only a handful of moments he can truly call his own.</p>
<p>      The nightly patrol is one of those moments. It used to take no more than an hour or so, but it’s slowly expanded to taking up his entire night. He didn’t mean for that to happen, but the idea of hanging around in the lull of the city at night is so appealing that he’s finding it harder and harder to return to the stifling silence of home.</p>
<p>      “Hey there, bugaboo, come to brood?”</p>
<p>      Adrien jumps at the sound, but he barely offers her a glance as she comes to join him on the Eiffel Tower’s walkway. “Oh. Hey, Lady Noir.”</p>
<p>      “Wow, you <em>are</em> broody tonight.” Lady Noir walks down the length of the handrail, her arms out as if her balance is in any way precarious. Adrien could shove her and she’d still barely waver. “Something on your mind?”</p>
<p>      Yes, but nothing he wanted to talk to her about. Lady Noir was probably one of his closest friends, but she didn’t understand the weight of responsibility like he did. He’d told her about the Miraculous Box, but that didn’t change the fact that it was his responsibility alone.</p>
<p>      “It’s nothing.”</p>
<p>      Lady Noir sits on the thin railing beside him, leaning back so she can get a better look at his face. Her body hangs over the edge, barely suspended by her tenuous grip on the railing. He hates it when she does that. It’s like she’s trying to invite disaster.</p>
<p>      “Doesn’t look like nothing,” she observes. “You know you can talk to me, right? We’re partners.”</p>
<p>      “I know that,” Adrien says. “But it’s just not something I’m ready to talk about.”</p>
<p>      Lady Noir sighs, pulling herself up into a sitting position. Now that he doesn’t have to avoid eye contact, he lets his eyes trace the path of her braid, trailing down toward the streets below.</p>
<p>      She’s bristling, he can tell without even looking at her. It’s what she always does when they can’t come to an agreement. Yes, they’re a team, but they’re both uniquely stubborn in a way that can cause friction.</p>
<p>       “You can take the rest of the night off,” Adrien offers. It’s not much, but it’s the closest he can get to a compromise. “I’ll finish up patrols.”</p>
<p>      “Are you sure?”</p>
<p>      He nods. “I’m meeting someone tonight anyway.”</p>
<p>      Lady Noir gasps. “Ooh la la! Don’t let me get in the way of your hot date.” She leans back, draping herself over the handrail to better smirk up at him.</p>
<p>      Adrien’s face burns. “It’s not like that. She’s just a friend.”</p>
<p>      But even that is too much. Lady Noir’s smirk breaks into a full-fledged grin, devious and teasing.</p>
<p>      “Just a friend, huh?” Lady Noir bumps their shoulders together. “Is she a cute friend?”</p>
<p>      She won’t push about names. More so than Adrien, she’s adamant about keeping their civilian identities a secret. Even something so small as friends or favorite restaurants are off-limits for her.</p>
<p>      Needless to say, he barely knows the first thing about his partner, and any information he tries to volunteer about himself is swiftly shut down.</p>
<p>      Adrien’s face burns, but he can’t help smiling at the thought of her.</p>
<p>      “Ah, that’s a yes! Good. Maybe she can do something about this pout.” She taps at his bottom lip before flipping backwards off the railing. “Enjoy your patrol!” she yells.</p>
<p>      The last Adrien sees of her is her staff as she zips over building tops, retreating into the distance.</p>
<p>      Adrien makes quick work of the rest of his patrols. Paris is quiet for the most part, and from the look of the city’s activity, it intends to stay that way for the rest of the night. He’ll probably go to bed with a live news feed on just in case, as he usually does, but his hopes are high that the city remains quiet for at least a few hours.</p>
<p>      The last stop on his patrol is a small rooftop in a sleeping section of the city. No matter what time he comes by, it’s always so quiet here. But not an empty quiet. A lived-in quiet. An inviting quiet.</p>
<p>      He hesitates, letting his doubts get the better of him. Did she say she’d be here, or had he just misremembered? It was Tuesday, wasn’t it? Maybe he’s here too late. Maybe she’s already asleep.</p>
<p>      He wields his yo-yo, ready to make his hasty escape, when a familiar head of dark hair pops up from the hatch.</p>
<p>      “Hi, Bug.” Marinette grins at him, her eyes soft. She still has a smear of flour on her cheek, so she was probably helping her parents in the bakery.</p>
<p>      “Hi, Mari. Sorry I’m late.”</p>
<p>      Marinette waves him off. “You’re right on time.” She pulls herself up onto the roof with little effort and holds her arms out for a hug, which Adrien is more than happy to run into.</p>
<p>      Mari’s hugs are like magic, a little burst of warmth that’s so easy to curl into. Somehow she always knows just when he needs them too.</p>
<p>      “Did patrols go okay?” Marinette asks. Her voice is low, like she’s sharing a secret meant just for him.</p>
<p>      He nods, pitching his voice low to match her volume. “Everything was nice and quiet.”</p>
<p>      “Good.” She pulls back a hair to get a better look at his face. Up close, her eyes are so bright and kind, and the way she looks at him makes him want to cry. “You look tired, bug.”</p>
<p>      “I <em>am</em> tired.”</p>
<p>      He didn’t mean to get to this point, but when his world came spiraling down the first time, his instincts took him to Marinette before his brain could step in.</p>
<p>      Part of him feels guilty for not immediately thinking of his partner, but the professional distance between them is too great for him to see her as a comfort.</p>
<p>      It’s not that he doesn’t <em>want</em> to see Lady Noir as a comfort, or to be closer to her—he wants it more than anything else in the world—but when he thinks of safety, he thinks of Marinette. The girl who sits behind him in class, the girl who trips over her own feet and laughs about it in a way he never could, the girl who brings in sweets for the class, the girl who everyone can trust with their secrets.</p>
<p>      Age regression is something that’s so, so personal to him. He found out about it by accident—something similar had come up in his advanced psychology studies and he’d taken every chance he could on public wi-fi to research it further. All online activity in the house is monitored, so he’d had to be careful.</p>
<p>      But Marinette understands, just like he hoped she would. When he opened up to her, Marinette just nodded and listened and offered to do whatever she could to help. She even crocheted him a baby blanket with ladybug spots. Sometimes Marinette comes to school with dark circles under her eyes because of how late they stay up together, but she never seems to mind it. To her, it’s just what she has to do to help.</p>
<p>      Marinette hums in sympathy. “Saving Paris is a big job.”</p>
<p>      Her voice is so soft, Adrien can’t help slipping a little further into headspace. “I’ve had a lot of responsibility in my personal life too.”</p>
<p>      He hears Lady Noir’s voice in the back of his mind, telling him not to give specifics. It’s especially dangerous considering that Marinette is in the same class as him. It wouldn’t take many clues for her to connect the dots.</p>
<p>      Marinette pouts. “Well, that’s no fun! That’s hardly enough time for a baby bug to play.” There’s something in the way she smiles at him, like she doesn’t have a care in the world, that ignites something not-so-nice.</p>
<p>      Envy slices through him, dark and ugly. Marinette never has to lock up pieces of herself. She’s allowed to be clumsy, scatterbrained, <em>flawed</em>, and it’s not the end of the world.</p>
<p>      Adrien feels nauseous for even thinking like that. It’s not Marinette’s fault that responsibility is eating him alive.</p>
<p>      She must see the guilt written across his face, because Marinette hesitates. “Is something wrong?”</p>
<p>      He just shakes his head, unable to form the words to explain.</p>
<p>      “Bad thoughts?” Marinette guesses.</p>
<p>      That’s another thing that’s great about Mari. Somehow she just knows what’s bothering him.</p>
<p>      “How about this?” she suggests, stroking the flyaway hairs from his forehead. “We’ll eat the cookies I made, then we can snuggle on the couch and watch some cartoons. Your blankie is in the dryer right now, so it’ll be nice and warm by the time you need it.”</p>
<p>      That sounds perfect. More than perfect, even. Almost too good to be true. His eyes well before he can reel in his emotions, and Marinette immediately moves to thumb the tears away.</p>
<p>      “When was the last time you ate, bug?” she asks. She has a sixth sense for those kinds of things too, but Adrien just thinks it’s because normal kids don’t cry as much as he does.</p>
<p>      “Lunch,” he answers after a moment of deliberation. Fencing practice ran right into his piano practice, and his father cancelled their family dinner, so no one really noticed when he snuck off to his room to be alone.</p>
<p>      He didn’t think it was that big of a deal until Mari clicks her tongue in disapproval.</p>
<p>      Mari only lets him have a few cookies, but she puts the rest in a container that he’s allowed to take home. The outside of the container is decorated with dragon stickers.</p>
<p>      Mari realized pretty quickly—probably by the second or third time he visited while regressed—that he doesn’t really care much for ladybug-themed <em>everything</em>. Honestly, it’s like there’s no off switch at times, and black polka dots have become a constant reminder that he’s not doing enough. He doesn’t care much for dragons either, but they’re a welcome step up from ladybug stickers.</p>
<p>      The blanket, however, couldn’t be helped. Marinette had started working on it almost immediately after he told her he regressed, and it would be rude to ask her to make another one. Besides, he didn’t have to look at the blanket to snuggle in it, and it was super warm.</p>
<p>      Marinette fetches the blanket, fresh out of the dryer, and wraps it around him before he even has the chance to ask. There’s something off about her expression, Adrien finally realizes.</p>
<p>      “Mari?” he asks, sinking to the floor. He takes his favorite spot by her desk, where he’s out of the way but also close enough for cuddles. “You look tired.”</p>
<p>      Her face softens at his concern. “I’m fine, bug. It’s just been a long week.”</p>
<p>      That’s right. She’s a fashion designer, she helps her friends with their band, she babysits, <em>and</em> she does commission work for people. Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how much she does, just because of how happy it makes her. Adrien didn’t know that people could be so happy with the things that make them busy.</p>
<p>      “I’m sorry. But you still like the stuff you do, right?”</p>
<p>      “Of course.”</p>
<p>      “Good.” Adrien jiggles his leg. He’s walking a fine line of giving too much away, but it’s something that’s been on his mind for a while now. “It’s no fun to do stuff you don’t like all day.”</p>
<p>      Marinette frowns, but she doesn’t pursue the line of conversation any further. It must be easy for her to connect the dots. Superhero work balanced with a home life he hated. It made sense that he’d want to reclaim his childhood.</p>
<p>      “Well, we’ll just have to fix that too,” Marinette decides. “How about we have an arts and crafts day sometime soon?”</p>
<p>      God, that sounds amazing. “I’d have to check my schedule…” Adrien trails off, realizing a second too late how lame that sounds. Like he can’t squeeze in a couple hours for the most important person in his life.</p>
<p>      But Marinette just giggles. “Well, let me know if you can squeeze me in, Mr. Hero. Now, how about some cartoons?”</p>
<p>      She’s slight, but she’s much stronger than he thought she’d be, and she’s always able to tug him into her lap with relative ease.</p>
<p>      He likes sitting on her lap when they cuddle. It always makes him feel so small, especially wrapped up in a big blanket.</p>
<p>      One episode turns to two, and before he knows it, he’s dozing against Marinette’s shoulder. Marinette moves to readjust the blanket that’s fallen off his shoulders and he nearly jumps out of his skin.</p>
<p>      “I should go,” he says uncertainly. He wonders if anyone will even notice he was gone. Surely Father wouldn’t, but maybe Nathalie will try to check up on him? It’s a long shot, he knows, and thinking about it will only bum him out.</p>
<p>      “If you wanna stay here, that’s okay too.” Marinette says. She pauses, giving Adrien that knowing look she’s so good at. “Do you <em>want</em> to stay the night, bug?”</p>
<p>      The question is, does he even deserve that? His mind immediately flashes back to the litany of mistakes he’s made over the past few days. The tests he didn’t do his absolute best on, the photoshoots he wasn’t one hundred percent for. Honestly, if Marinette hadn’t set it in stone that he visit her today, he probably wouldn’t have bothered her.</p>
<p>      “I’d have to detransform,” he points out.</p>
<p>      “You haven’t used your Lucky Charm though. But I bet it wouldn’t be comfy to sleep in your superhero outfit. We can figure something out if you’d like.”</p>
<p>      Adrien furrows his brow, wondering how she knew that about his lucky charm. But then again, her best friend runs the Monsieur Bug fan blog, so it’s no surprise if she’s picked some stuff up.</p>
<p>      Plus, Marinette is really going out of her way. It almost sounds like she <em>wants</em> him to stay. And the more that he thinks about it, why shouldn’t he be allowed to have a few more hours with her?</p>
<p>      He saves the city on an almost weekly basis. If anyone deserves to be the tiniest bit selfish, it’s him.</p>
<p>      So he makes his decision, one just for him. Him and Mari. He gives her the most pleading eyes he can manage, hoping she feels wanted in the same way she makes him feel wanted. “Please, Mari.”</p>
<p>      Marinette kisses his nose. “That’s all you needed to say, bug.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>mcschnuggles.tumblr.com</p></blockquote></div></div>
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